Type and format  |  Google API Discovery Service  |  Google for Developers
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Page Summary
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The type and format properties are used to determine the data type of properties in JSON requests and responses.
The type property indicates the JSON data type, while the format property provides additional, more specific type information.
Some data types that cannot be directly represented in JSON, like 64-bit integers, are represented as a string type with a specific format value.
The Google APIs Discovery Service supports a list of type and format values, including those defined in the JSON Schema spec and some Google-specific ones.
The type and format properties on parameters and schemas can be used
to determine the data type of the property. The type property indicates the type of
the property when its sent in JSON requests and responses (JSON supports a small set of data
types, see json.org for details). The format
property provides additional information about the underlying type. Properties will always have
a type property, but some may also have a format property.
For example, a 64-bit integer cannot be represented in JSON (since JavaScript and JSON support
integers up to 2^53). Therefore, a 64-bit integer must be represented as a string in JSON
requests/responses. So the type property will be set to "string", but the
format property will be set to "int64" to indicate that it is a 64-bit integer.
The JSON Schema spec already defines a set of common
values for the format property. The Google APIs Discovery Service supports some
of these values, and defines others as well. The full list of type and
format values supported by Google APIs Discovery Service is summarized below.
Note: The client libraries that we automatically generate from an
API's discovery document sometimes use language-idiomatic types for these types and formats. For
example: A 64-bit integer is represented as type string in JSON requests and
responses, but our generated Java client library uses the Java long type.
Type value
Format value
Meaning
any
The property may have any type. Defined by the JSON Schema spec.
any
google.protobuf.Value
The property has the JSON representation of the type of google.protobuf.Value.
array
A JavaScript array of values. The items property indicates the schema for the
array values. Defined by the JSON Schema spec.
array
google.protobuf.ListValue
The property has the JSON representation of the type of google.protobuf.ListValue.
boolean
A boolean value, either "true" or "false". Defined by the JSON Schema spec.
integer
int32
A 32-bit signed integer. It has a minimum value of -2,147,483,648 and a maximum value of
2,147,483,647 (inclusive).
integer
uint32
A 32-bit unsigned integer. It has a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 4,294,967,295
(inclusive).
number
double
A double-precision 64-bit IEEE 754 floating point.
number
float
A single-precision 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point.
object
A JavaScript object. Defined by the JSON Schema spec.
object
google.protobuf.Struct
The property has the JSON representation of the type of google.protobuf.Struct.
object
google.protobuf.Any
The property has the JSON representation of the type of google.protobuf.Any.
string
An arbitrary string. Defined by the JSON Schema spec.
string
byte
A padded, base64-encoded string of bytes, encoded with a URL and filename safe alphabet
(sometimes referred to as "web-safe" or "base64url"). Defined by RFC4648.
string
date
An RFC3339 date in the format YYYY-MM-DD. Defined in the JSON Schema spec.
string
date-time
An RFC3339 timestamp in UTC time. This in the format of yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.SSSZ. The
milliseconds portion (".SSS") is optional. Defined in the JSON Schema spec.
string
google-datetime
An RFC3339 timestamp in UTC time. This in the format of yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.SSSZ. The
milliseconds portion (".SSS") is optional.
string
google-duration
A string ends in the suffix "s" (indicating seconds) and is preceded by the number of
seconds, with nanoseconds expressed as fractional seconds. The period is always used as the
decimal point, not a comma.
string
google-fieldmask
A string where field names are separated by a comma. Field names are represented in
lower-camel naming conventions.
string
int64
A 64-bit signed integer. It has a minimum value of -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 and a maximum
value of 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 (inclusive).
string
uint64
A 64-bit unsigned integer. It has a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of (2^64)-1
(inclusive).
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-04-14 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-04-14 UTC."],[],[]]
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